Super Jay and the Littlest Mermaid

Alright, we're back to the blogging world, look for tons of updates in the next few days!

Here's our favorite boy in the coolest Halloween costume ever, thanks to Grandma Melinda. She really is the coolest. Who else could whip out a costume this great in just a couple hours?

Here's Carly in her mermaid costume. Grandpa Monte was holding her at the ward party and people said he looked like King Triton with his beard and holding a wee mermaid. For some reason I don't have a picture of it, but I wish we would have thought of it earlier and Grandma Melinda could have whipped him up a fabulous costume!

Thanks mom!

No Costume Necessary

This handsome man was going to dress up as an attorney for Halloween, but, today he was informed by the Ohio Bar Association that he passed the Bar Exam, and he really IS an attorney! Thankfully, no costume is necessary.

We're so proud of him and all his hard work! Way to go Chad!

Family Pictures

Here's a peek at the family pictures we just had taken. These are just a few of my favorites, she took tons and I love them all! If you're in the area and need a great photographer at a great price, contact Jessica. She did a great job, even though Jay was being quite difficult (we may have to find a new location that doesn't have a huge playground in sight).

Fall Fabulousness

We get pretty excited about fall here in the Worthen house. We love pumpkin bread (the most fabulous recipe ever here), the weather, apples, leaves, and everything else that makes fall fabulous. Last Monday (the first day of fall), Jay and I were inspired by a bag of silk leaves in the one spot at Target (as well as this fabulous mother) and we decided to plan a fall party. It was supposed to be a surprise for Chad when he came home from work, but Jay chanted "fall party!" all the way home from picking Chad up from work, so I'm pretty sure Chad knew what was coming. We tried to go all out, but not only would Carly not do her share of the preparations, she insisted on being held and fed. The nerve! Although Martha could have done better, we had quite a lovely celebration. Here are the highlights:

The Decor: Jay and I taped the silk leaves onto some string

The Treats: Pumpkin Bread Muffins with cream cheese frosting. (also notice my favorite fall tablecloth)

We were going to do some fall activities, but the evening got away from us. We made a good attempt, and the party plans kept Jay and I busy and excited all day, which is really all I can ask for.

In the past week we've been enjoying everyday of fall. Here are some activities we've done so far:

Jay washing the pumpkin centerpiece

(I told him it just had dirt on it, but he insisted it was "poopy")

A lovely fall tree we saw on our walk around the neighborhood

The leaves Jay picked up from the tree to take home and make a project

(Jay gets really excited when you use the word project. He said "These will be perfect to make for daddy! It will be wonderful for him!")

We'd like to fully take advantage of the fall before it's gone, so let us know if you have any fabulous activity ideas for us, or fabulous recipe ideas for us to make!

Adjusting to Life as a Family of Four

Alright, here's the run down of the past month of our lives. We're adjusting quite well, with the exception of our lack of sleep, which should resolve itself eventually. Here's "baby sister":

(As a side note, we really shouldn't have stressed so much about a name and just named her "baby sister" as that is all she gets called anyway.)

This is how Carly spends most of her days

This is how she spends the rest of her time when she's not eating

On rare occasions, she does this (oh we are so blessed, she is quite a pleasant girl)

This is a really weird picture that makes it look like she's smiling with a ginormous flower on her head. She's not really smiling, and the flower isn't that huge.

Jay is taking his lack of attention better than expected. On occasion he insists that we "drop baby sister" while we're holding her, and often tells us "you not want hold baby sister". On the flip side, whenever she's awake and looking at him, he says "I think she like me...I like her too...I think she like you too mommy!".

He is watching too much TV these days, but the doctor says it doesn't make me a bad mom. He has also learned how to operate the computer mouse and loves playing games on pbskids.org all by himself. When Carly is sleeping and Jay and I get hang out time, we usually bake something, and then the whole family spends the next day eating way too many cookies. We seriously have got to make some friends that like cookies that could potentially contain slobber, or I am never going to lose this baby weight!

Jay and I try to keep busy inside the house most days as we're stuck here without a car. We invested in a fabulous "sit 'n stand" double stroller that we love so we can make the occasional trip to the playground and stroll around the neighborhood. He also enjoys painting and coloring these days and is working on being proficient with a glue stick. He borrows a small circle paper punch I have and LOVES to "clip" hundreds of circles out of paper. We are not combining skills and creating fabulous greeting cards with lots of circles glued on them...watch your mailbox and you might just get lucky and receive one of these cards!

This is a picture of Jay making cupcakes with Grandma Melinda (she's much more patient than I am. When Jay and I make muffins, putting the batter in the cups is a "mommy job".)

One last Jayism to end this post:
The other day I had to chase him down in the parking lot after he tried to run off. I informed him that he would be going to time-out as soon as we returned home. This conversation followed:
Jay: I not want to go time out!
Darbie: Well, then you should listen to what mommy says.
Jay: It's hard mommy, it's hard!

Ike

Apparently Hurricane Ike decided to bring some of the destruction to Ohio. Here's what occurred at my parent's house yesterday:






The last picture was taken after many people (and 3 chainsaws) helped remove the tree from the car.

Sadly, this was our white birch tree. Every year on the first day of school, my parents would take our picture in front of this beautiful tree. Apparently this tree had served its purpose having survived years of first day of school pictures for 4 children, and now its time has come. We'll be burning this tree in our fireplace this winter.

For those of you who know my dad and were wondering:
Yes, his golf clubs were in the trunk.
Yes, he pried the trunk open to retrieve them.
Yes, the clubs survived without a scratch.

(I know I should be posting baby pictures, I'm getting to it, I promise!)

Baby Blessing

This is my first time contributing to the blog so you might have to bare with me. I decided to write this post because I was the only eye witness to the events that inspired it. So without further adieu here's the story of the week!

One morning this week Jay decided to wake up at 5:50 a.m. Trying to keep him occupied while his mother slept in the front room (next to Carly's bed), I brought Jay into our bedroom. After entertaining him for ten minutes or so, my own tiredness caught up to me and I found myself laying face first on the bed. Believing that his father was in some sort of distress, Jay got onto the bed, placed his hands on my head, and said the following: "Bless daddy that he will feel better, name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I really didn't know how to respond. We're not really sure where he learned about blessings. The only time he has been present for one was when Monte and I gave Darbie a blessing about 3 weeks ago. He must of have remembered it (like he does everything else) but I am surpised that he caught what the blessing was for. After all, he was probably running around screaming at the time.

Anyway, that wasn't the final "miracle" performed by our little faith healer. During that day, Jay proceed to give a blessing to Darbie, Carly, and yes, even himself. We are happy that he has picked up the concept, but we should probably have some sort of FHE leason about blessings before Jay begins to offer them to the other kids on the playground.

Carly

Just a few more pictures of the babe.

She's Here!

Carly Worthen

7 lbs 4 oz

20 inches

stay tuned for cuter pictures (they ended up on Grandma's camera)

The Belly

Here is the long awaited picture of my belly. Somehow my head got cut out of the picture. Must be the guest blog photographer...or the 12 chins that were visible that made me feel extra fat. Here is "baby sister" in my belly at 38 1/2 weeks.

Jay was jealous that I was getting a photo shoot, so Chad took some pictures of Jay and I afterwards. Jay wanted us to say all kinds of silly things for the camera like "fishy".

Barbmom, Papa, and Erin Come to Visit

This past week (after Chad survived the Bar exam), Barbmom and Papa Clyde (Chad's parents) and his sister Erin paid us a visit here in Ohio. Some highlights include going Amish Country, Kirtland, and Build-a-Bear. For some reason we have no pictures of Amish Country or Kirtland, but by golly we got some pictures of Build-a-Bear. Jay and I have perused the store several times when we walked through the mall and I told him he could come make one with Barbmom when she came to visit. (On one occasion, Barb even tried to give Chad $40 to put into a savings account for Jay in case she died without having the opportunity to take him to Build-a-Bear). Jay was especially fascinated by the large bathtub to "wash" your creation once you were finished. He's been talking for months about "giving bear a bath". Well, he finally got his opportunity, except he opted to make a puppy instead of a bear.

Jay's puppy was the cleanest puppy in town as Jay "bathed" him about 5 times before we left.

Jay's puppy is sporting a fabulous USA basketball uniform just in time for the Olympics

Jay ran through the mall with his new creation...

...he found a store he wanted to check out. (True story, he dropped the puppy outside Hot Topic so he could run in and check out some sweet clothes. Whatever happened to baby Gap?)

Swinging with Barb and Papa at the playground in our apartment complex

Quick Family Update

Chad
As I write this blog, Chad is in Columbus, OH suffering through the dreaded Ohio Bar Exam. It's a three day exam and today is only Day 1. He has studied mighty hard and I think he's ready, but please pray hard for him anyway! We're excited for Thursday when he will have a whole 11 days of "vacation" before he starts his new job. Everyone says I'll never see him again once he's sold his soul to the law firm, but it really couldn't be worse than the 24/7 bar studying, right?

Chad did take a break from studying one evening to take me to the John Mayer concert for my birthday!

Darbie

I'm just the Jay entertainment queen 24/7 these days. We've become pretty good buddies and I even got an "Hi mom, I love you" the other day. (Chad hasn't even gotten one of those yet, and he's widely known as Jay's favorite. In fact, Chad heard Jay say it to me while he was in the bedroom studying and he came out and said "Did he just say what I thought he said?". Yup, I got the first I love you, but once this bar thing is over, Chad will get his fair share.)

I take care of our little patio garden as well, but seeing as I have Jay spray the plants 5 times a day, it pretty much falls into the Jay entertainment category. We're all loving our little patio garden and I probably worry about it way too much seeing as I've never grown anything and don't know what to expect. We have transplanted some of the plants into my parent's garden, but we're seeing if we can grow some stuff to full maturity here. Here are some pictures of our precious plants:











Jay
Jay is quite the little character these days. His behavior has improved greatly since we tried the 1-2-3 Magic discipline system. (I know, it sounds cheesy cheesy cheesy). There were a couple weeks when we first got here that Chad and I avoided taking this kid in public at all costs. He was out of control and my pregnant self couldn't handle him in the grocery store. All is well now, and he has become quite the pleasant and hilarious child.

Jay showing us his "noculars" made from play-doh tubs

I'm pretty sure I should receive some sort of parenting award for this next story:

Jay and I were browsing around Target just killing time while Chad was studying, and we headed into the toy aisles. Here is Jay's reaction/conversation with himself as we enter the aisle:

"Buy toys! No, not buy toys, just look at toys."

He said it matter of factly with no disappointment in his voice whatsoever. I started cracking up and secretly hoped someone heard my angel child tell me we were "just looking" at toys. I was in luck, and another lady in the aisle walked up to me

Lady: "Did he just say he wanted to just look at toys?"
Me: "Yeah, apparently I've got him pretty brainwashed!"
Lady: "I have a 10 year old I can't get to say that!"

I then secretly slipped a small train toy in the cart for later, I couldn't actually let Jay see I really was buying a toy. The train will be used as a reward/bribe/keep my sanity trick while I'm left alone with Jay with no car for 3 days.

Baby Sister
She's still inside my belly, due to arrive around August 21st. Nobody believes I'm due in 3 weeks as apparently I'm quite small. I'm bigger than I was with Jay, so I feel enormous. I had a couple ultrasounds to make sure the baby was growing properly due to the fact that I was measuring small, but they're convinced she's average sized. I have no idea where she hides, but I assured them that Jay weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and I was smaller last time, so my insides must just get pushed around into crazy corners of my body.

She still doesn't have a name. I don't think Chad had room in his brain to analyze anything else but Bar material up until now, so it's on the to-do list for when he returns. Any suggestions? I've checked the family tree and eliminated numerous possibilities.

I know you were all hoping for a belly shot, but no such luck as I always forget to take one when I'm actually wearing real clothing and do my hair.